War!

The Balkans: Bulgaria signs a military agreement with Germany agreeing to enter on the side of the Central Powers. In return for sending forces against Serbia and Montenegro (thereby re-opening the unresolved business of the recent Second Balkan War), Bulgaria is promised large parts of Macedonia, a sea port on the Adriatic and territorial concessions in European Turkey. [Burg & Purcell: “Almanac of World War 1”]

World Affairs: In Athens, the Ottoman Ambassador to Greece proposes to the Greek Premier Venizelos a “population exhange” whereby the muslim communities of Macedonia (including Salonica – now Thessaloniki) will be “swapped” for the Greek communities in and around Smyrna (now Izmir) on the Anatolian coast.

Global oil: The British government and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) sign an agreement for the British Government to become a majority (51%) shareholder in APOC. The agreement gives the British government the right to appoint two directors on the Board who have the power of veto on any questions relating to British national interests. Also on the same day, a contract is signed between APOC and the British Admiralty by which APOC guarantees the supply of oil to the British Admiralty for 30 years at fixed prices.

Exploration: In St Petersburg (later Petrograd, then Leningrad, now St Petersburg again) Sergei Fedorovich Oldenburg leaves for his second Russian Turkestan expedition, accomapnied by the artist V. S. Bikenberg, topographer N. A. Smirnov, photographers Dudian and Romberg, seven Kazakh guards, and a Chinese interpreter. The expediton will take 3 months to reach its final destination – the ‘caves of a thousand Buddhas’ at Mogao, near Dunhuang.

BORN TODAY: Among the ashes of two Balkan Wars, In Salonica, (until just before that time, in the Ottoman province of Macedonia, but just recently becoming Thessaloniki in newly expansionist Greece) – Aris Football Club, named after the God of War.

BORN TODAY: In St Petersburg (later Petrograd, now St Petersburg again), Russia – Anatol Kagan: exiled with his father to Berlin in 1922, but unable (as a foreigner) to work there after obtaining his architecture qualification . Emigrated to Melbourne, Australia in 1939, where he pursued a career in both the private and the public sectors until his retirement in 1973.

Society and Culture: “Captain” W.E.Johns, a sanitary inspector from the sleepy town of Swaffham in Norfolk, England, joins the Territorial Army as a Private in the King’s Own Royal Regiment (Norfolk Yeomanry). After fighting on the Macedonian front and joining the Royal Flying Corp during World War 1, his 46 year writing career will include 160 books, most of which (over 100) will feature the fictional James Bigglesworth – “Biggles” – pilot, hero and adventurer.

BORN TODAY: in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania – Britton Chance, The Eldridge Reeves Johnson Emeritus Professor of Biophysics, Physical Chemistry, and Radiologic Physics at the University of Pennsylvania, – “for more than 50 years one of the giants of biochemistry and biophysics and a world leader in transforming theoretical science into useful biomedical and clinical applications”. [ http://www.brittonchance.org ].

World Affairs: A Dutch newspaper reports disturbances at the Russian monastery Panteleimon on Mount Athos, near Salonica (Thessaloniki) in disputed Macedonia (now Greece). “a Russian detachment went ashore, using violence to restore the order. All troublemakers have been brought to Russia” [ http://athosweblog.com ].

Empire & Ireland: At Six Roads Ends in North Down, Belfast, Sir Edward Carson inspects 2500 members of the Protestant Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) set up in opposition to plans for Home Rule in (Catholic) Ireland. [ http://www.historyireland.com ]

Sport: At Crystal Palace in London, Edward Aston becomes the first recorded Englishman to lift 300 lb overhead with one hand. [ http://www.davidgentle.com ].

BORN TODAY: At Kenardington in Kent, UK – Charlie Bridger, quarryman son of a farm labourer from a musical lineage. British folk music revivalist in the 1980s. (“Three maidens a-milking did go“)

World Affairs: China signs a treaty with Russia relinquishing its claims to Mongolia.

Second Balkan War: Serbian forces defeat a Bulgarian army at the Battle of Bregalnica (now part of Macedonia).

Crime and Punishment: In the UK, Thomas Fletcher, jilted lover, is hanged at Worcester Gaol by Thomas Pierrepoint for the murder of his former fiance, Lilian (Lily) Wharton.

Royal Lancastrian Progress: On the third day of their royal tour, King George V and Queen Mary visit Accrington, Bacup, Shawforth, Whitworth, and also Rochdale, where they are treated to the opening recital of the new James J Binn’s organ which is the centrepiece of the Rochdale town Hall. The recital is performed by Herbert Walton, the organist of Glasgow cathedral.

Science and Technology: in Maadi, by the Nile, (now a suburb of Cairo) American Frank Shuman demonstrates his new invention – the solar panel power plant.